This site is a blog about what has been coasting through my consciousness lately. The things I post will be reflections that I see of the world around me. You may not agree with me or like what I say. In either case – you’ll get over it and I can live with it if it makes you unhappy. Please feel free to leave comments if you wish . All postings are: copyright 2014 – 2019

Take Me Out To The Customer Service Department

WE WERE TRYING TO WATCH THE GIANTS GAME on MLB.TV the other day while we were down in Texas. We watch about 140+ games each year. It is well worth the price. Of course, any baseball fan would say the same thing – and they would be right.

We had pulled a surprise visit, flying down to Texas without any advance warning. Visit, visit, hug, hug, eat, eat, visit, visit, eat, etc. You do that for a couple of days and you need a break. You need baseball.

My wife, the lovely and hi-tech whiz wife, Dawn, set up the mobile hotspot gizmo and we sat back waiting for the action to start, BUT instead of the game the screen said that “many games are blacked out for people logging in from foreign countries.”

What the…?

I know that many Texans do sincerely believe that Texas is, always has been, and always will be, an independent and foreign country, but this was not going to be tolerated when it came to baseball. Remember the Alamo? I say Remember AT&T Park.

While I pulled up the audio portion of the game off the internet Dawn got on the phone, dialing up MLB.TV Customer Service with lightning speed.

There are always computer glitches, gremlins, and bits of electronic voodoo whenever you have a set up to broadcast all of a day’s games. Add onto that the fact that we normally watch the games from Terre Haute (That’s French for “I want some garlic fries.”) and here we were on a portable hotspot logging in from Texas.

Well, the guy at the Customer Service Desk was super cool about it all. It was clearly obvious that we were not trying to watch the game from Zambia or even France. Something was amiss. We had no trouble watching games while we were in Ireland earlier this year. Having this problem because we were in Texas just didn’t wash.

Mr. Customer Service said that he would say a few obscure Geek Chants and make everything work perfectly. He mumbled something unintelligible, flipped a few switches, sacrificed a chicken, and BINGO – we had baseball!

That man is my hero.

Now comes the tricky part – to watch the game without screaming at the TV and disturbing Dawn’s Mom while she was trying to take her afternoon nap. When you are 95 years of age you don’t want anything messing up your nap, least of all two wacky baseball fans – even if they are family.

The regular Baseball Season is almost over now. The Playoffs will soon begin. As of this moment we don’t know if our Giants will take part in the Post-Season or if they will all be watching the games from home – just like us. If the Giants are not moving on in an attempt toget to the World Series I will find it difficult to watch any of the other games. Every game that the Giants have played this season has been torture. To endure all of that and to then have them headed home before the Big Party begins would be unbearable. I may be reduced to watching Dancing With The Stars. Oh, the shame, the sadness, the leg cramps. I’ll tear up, discretely.

Until Spring Training begins in February I would have to remember the Customer Service Guy at MLB.TV and say, “There is justice in this world”

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4 thoughts on “Take Me Out To The Customer Service Department”

I’ve said before, ‘I don’t like Baseball’. But, I spelled it using a capital B, and I’m glad Dawn got things under control. Women are good at that, and a lot of other things. Nice to have around, wouldn’t you say?!

My SF Giants play a game of torture with the fans every year and it drives us mad. I lived in San Francisco for 25 years before going to Terre Haute. Just because you move doesn’t mean you give up your team. We watch about 140 games a year and try to see the Giants when they visit the Midwest.

I get it! Moving here and leaving our beloved Phillies was really hard. Catching a game was pathetic at best. Then…I discovered baseball on the radio. It’s wonderful. The radio can’t capture other sports like football. It sure did work for baseball before television came along, and it still works today. That being said, I would want to tear apart someone or something if a game was blacked out on TV. Sigh!

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John Kraft is a writer living and working in Terre Haute, Indiana. He moved to the Midwest after 25 years in California where he worked as an actor, comedian, voice-over actor, as well as a writer. He now enjoys a saner pace of life with his wife, Dawn, who tries to keep him from embarrassing himself in public.
Perhaps I should explain the title of this blog: Down the Hall on Your Left.
My name is John. People are always asking where they can find "The John." My answer is: "Down the Hall on Your Left."